How to See the Strawberry Supermoon, The Last Supermoon This Year
Everything you need to know about the uniquely-named final supermoon of 2021, which will take place on Thursday, June 24
Every so often, the sun, moon, and Earth align in such a way that the sun’s light illuminates the Earth-facing side of the moon, causing a supermoon. While full moons occur anytime the sun, moon, and Earth align at a 180 degree angle, in order for a supermoon to occur, the full moon must also be at the closest distance to Earth in its orbit, a point known as the perigee.
This celestial lineup occurs roughly three to four times in a typical year, and this Thursday’s Strawberry Moon will be the last in a series of four supermoons this year. According to National Geographic, supermoons can appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than a full moon does at its furthest distance from Earth (a point known as the apogee).
Although the moon will appear full for a few days leading up to the event, it won’t be until 2:40 p.m. EDT on Thursday that the Strawberry Supermoon will be at its fullest. At this time, the moon will still be below the horizon for those living in North America—however, hopeful observers can still witness the phenomenon at moonrise, which begins at 8:53 p.m. EDT in New York. For moonrise times at other locations, visit timeanddate.com.
Despite its name, the supermoon will not actually appear neither pink nor red in the sky on Thursday—rather, it got its name from the Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples, who named it such to mark the opening of strawberry-picking season.
In order to be considered a supermoon, the moon must be within 90 percent of its closest approach to Earth in its orbit. NASA has stated that this Thursday’s moon has just marginally qualified as a supermoon, and will be further away from our planet than the previous three supermoons that took place this year in March, April, and May.
Although the name supermoon was coined by astrologer Richard Noelle in 1979, the scientific term for the astronomical event is Perigee Syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun System, with “Syzygy” referring to three celestial bodies in a straight line.
